


You Need To Go (But Stay)

by InesStarkDowney



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Tony Stark, Steve Is Done With Tony Risking His Life, Tony Is In A Hospital Bed (Again)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 16:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10857606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InesStarkDowney/pseuds/InesStarkDowney
Summary: So Tony is in a hospital bed again (no surprise there, let's be honest) because he keeps risking his life over and over again. Steve is honestly done with it, but no matter how mad he is (oh, he is mad, really), he stays around, and spends hours by Tony's side. Of course it's not just spending hours by Tony's side. There has to be more. And apparently it's Clint that makes them both see that. Did you thought bird boy didn't see it as clear as it was?





	You Need To Go (But Stay)

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun writing this. Writing oblivious Tony and love confessions plus my babybird is just...amazing. Besides, it's pure cliché and I love cliché scenes. 
> 
> I hope there are no mistakes (I'm the worst at finding them) and I hope you enjoy!

"You need to go."

Tony said from his hospital bed rather tired. He looked helplessly at Steve, who was in front of the bed, holding on to it with too much strenght, his knuckles turning white. Tony looked right into those blue eyes that were alit with fire, and it was a surprise Tony could stare into them. God knew how much Tony avoided them, but now... Now he just wished for Steve to see that he was too tired to have this fight again.

Because it happened every time, every time Tony ended in a hospital bed because he did what he had to do out there, on the battlefield, in order to save someone... most of the times Steve. Tony would rather be in pain in that white room than being the one sitting by Steve's beside table, watching his golden skin be rather white and sick. It wasn't a selfless act; it was rather selfish, because he wanted Steve to live no matter what.

So here they were again, after Steve barged in the room and yelled at Tony for ten whole minutes. Tony no longer responded he just enjoyed the fact that Steve was yelling at him. _At least he is still here, being mad at me_. Nonetheless, Tony was tired. To be honest, he was always tired nowadays.

"You're not backing away from this conversation so easily." Steve didn't move an inch, not to leave or just simply sit down. He was a stubborn ass, but that was Steve Rogers alright.

"No, I know that. But I am tired."

Steve fell silent at the bluntness in Tony's words, even more at the expression on his face. Steve knew Tony enough to see when he stopped being Tony Stark and was just Tony, no masks put on. So Steve nodded and sat next to Tony's bed, in the rather uncomfortable chair, but Steve had slept on the cold hard floor back in the war, so it was nothing he couldn't handle, especially for Tony.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here, waiting to keep on scolding you."

Tony chuckled at the sight of a tiny smirk on the corners of Steve's mouth, but regretted it immediately after the shot of pain that cursed through his body.

"Okay, Cap. Just... don't make me laugh anymore or I might pass out from the pain."

"All your fault, because if you hadn't been reckless you could be laughing at my great sense of humour."

"I thought the scolding was adjourned for later today..."

"Right...", Steve sighed and helped Tony lie down on the bed, and resisted the urge to run his fingers through that mess of brown hair and kiss his forehead. Instead, he sat back down and smiled at Tony, "Sleep, Tony."

Tony closed his eyes and the fact that Steve was there by his side made him feel like he was back home, just sitting on the couch, late at night because the team had decided to watch a movie, and like every other night, everyone fell asleep and Tony wasn't exception, just like Steve wasn't. All that missed was Tony's head on Steve's shoulder, and Steve's warmth to envelope Tony, but Tony didn't mind that much or he tried not to.

While he thought of those nights, while he fell in and out of his sleep, while he listened to the stable beeping of the machinery connected to him, the light steps on the corridor and the breathing of Steve, Steve looked at him, his face supported on his fist.

Tony always did things like this, even if there were other alternatives to save someone. But Tony had the habit of falling into his death; Steve almost hopelessly thought that there was nothing he could do anymore. However, he tried the same speech every time they found themselves here, in hopes that Tony could understand that the team (Steve) needed him alive and well. One day, it would happen, Tony would listen and things would be easier, Steve wouldn't have to have a heart attack every time he saw the armour hitting the ground and not getting up.

God, the image was still in his head and it wouldn't leave for a while, it would constantly come up in dreams where the team didn't get to the hospital in team, and Tony was just a body lying on a white bed, Tony was no longer that mess of a man that could build incredible things and put the stars in the sky, Tony was no longer a golden heart with good intentions and warm brown eyes. Steve fought every day for that never to come to reality. They were immortal for now, they had to be.

"I don't think you get how important you are, Shellhead. I can't let you just put your life on the line without thinking of the consequences. There will be consequences if one day we are too late and you don't wake up again. Everything will just... Be gone.", Steve sighed and rubbed his tired eyes,"You're everything, Tony. You're everything to me."

Tony had to try not to curl his hands into fists. Tony had to try not to let the lump in his throat to turn into tears. Tony had to pretend to be asleep, pretend his heart was not running on 100 km per hour. Everything was fine, everything was like normal, and Steve's words were just words said on special circumstance. No big deal. No big deal.

Tony eventually fell asleep, and woke up later with the strong smell of coffee in the room. He immediately opened his eyes to find Clint next to his bed with a hot steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty. I managed to sneak in this, because I figured you needed something that actually tasted nice. It's just the way you like, dark with two spoons of sugar."

Tony immediately looked at Steve, knowing he wouldn't approve of the coffee just to find him sleeping soundly. Then the words said earlier came to his mind and yes, Tony needed that coffee more than anything. Something he knew, something he knew how it would taste on his tongue. Tony quickly took the coffee and took a large sip.

"Thanks, Barton."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm not the one in a hospital bed... again."

"Right..."

Clint sat at the end of Tony's bed, looking between the sleeping Steve and Tony who was looking at the coffee in his hands without drinking it. Obviously the genius had something on his mind that was far more important than coffee, which was a surprise, but judging by the person who spent the last hours by his side... It wasn't that unexpected. It was Steve, after all.

"Is something wrong?", Clint asked and when Tony looked at him, confusion splattered all over his face, Clint knew something had happened.

"What? No."

"Then why are you staring at your coffee without drinking it?"

"Uh...", Tony put the offee on his bed side table, knowing for a fact he couldn't focus on enjoying it and relax, with Steve all up in his mind. He needed to find out more, because words like that were not just... Spilled out like that. "Does Steve ever talk about me? I know you and Romanoff and him constantly go on missions together, so I was wondering if he did."

"Tony, if you think because he yells at you most of the time it means he doesn't like you, you're wrong, man. He talks about you, but not the way you are thinking. Seriously, it's kind of... annoying. We might be having the most normal conversation about battlefield tactics and he brings you up out of the blue, gushing about some plan you had in some mission. He just... He constantly brings you up, never to talk trash, but to... Gush. All the time, actually. He remembers the weirdest things also, like how you like your sandwich and how he finds it awful, but he never forgets to make it the way you like."

Tony felt a sudden blush crawl up the back of his neck and did his best to ignore it and just take deep breathes. He looked over to Steve, even more confused because... How could Steve say all those things? He was Tony after all, and yet Steve showed those... fond feelings. It was hard to believe it, honestly. But Tony shouldn't come up with assumptions either way. Listening to those things meant nothing, unless he asked Steve directly about how he felt about Tony. And that would never happen, Tony knew better than to do just that.

Clint arched his eyebrows at the sight of Tony looking at Steve rather intently. Man, he didn't actual understand how much in for each other they were till that moment. This was a mess...

"Why did you wanted to know, Tony?"

"Uh, just... Just to know. Recon, you know?"

"Hmmm... I bet you don't even know it yourself. You're trying to fish for something you don't even know what it is in concrete."

Tony looked at Clint like he just saw through him or even worse, like Tony was naked and had just been robbed of every feeling and thought regarding Steve. How could he just know all that just from this small conversation? Tony was starting to think that Clint was spending too much time with Natasha. She was the one who usually dress him down till he was bare and weak, not Clint.

"Tell me something... What does Steve mean to you?"

"Steve? He..." God, Tony's throat was dry. Come on, he was forty year old man, he wasn't a boy who couldn't talk about what he felt without tripping on his own words anymore. In fact, he had never been like that, so why now? "He's Cap."

"Yeah, but your 'Cap' means something entirely different than my 'Cap'. Tell me the feelings that come with it."

Tony remained silent. Steve was Steve, there weren't any words regarding feelings that could ever describe it. What could Tony say that didn't sound absurd or even misleading?

"I don't know, Barton. He's just Steve."

Clint nodded and got up, taking the already cold Coffee cup with him. He turned around and walked up to the door, opening it and letting the room be flooded with all that noise from the hospital. Clint stopped for a few seconds and before he could leave, he debated on whether to be bold and just tell the truth about what he saw or whether to leave and let Tony deal with whatever this was. The first option won, because he cared about Tony more than it could be said.

"I see things, you know? Being the bird in the house and being always with Tasha, and let me tell you what I see when it comes to you and Steve: Love. But maybe it's just me and my wild imagination. I'm not actually inside that genius mind. Now rest, asshole. I want to go home and just watch a movie with my friends."

Clint closed the door behind him and there was silence in the room again. Tony stared at the place where Clint had been and suddenly he was laughing and staring at the ceiling because this was too good to be true. Tony looked at Steve, still sleeping, and smiled.

"I'm everything to you, han? That's ironic, really, really ironic. You're everything to me, Cap."

Steve flexed his hand as soon as his heart started to race but made every effort not to move another inch.

Okay, so this was how it was. Everything.

God, the need for Steve to laugh was enormous as well, because this really was too good to be true.


End file.
